I know the first is Brit spelling; the second, American. But I see "theatre" all over the place here in USn's land. One theater-type told me it's to distinguish "theatre" the art from "theater" the venue, but I dunno. I see "Theatre" as part of a venue name all the time. Is it just that it looks better, more consmopolitan, or something?

I have nothing to say regarding theatre/theater because, in Blighty, it's all 're'.

Regarding relentless and unrelenting, though, I can see something that might help (or have helped) Wordwind's denotation/connotation classes. The two words should have the same denotation, but the connotations,a s other posts here have shown, can be different.

As with the others, I think of unrelenting as similar to unbending - a judge, for instance, who will show no mercy.

Relentless, on the other hand, is like a marathon runner determined to catch up with the one in front, who makes it so.

I would find it awkward to use rlentless in the case of the judge who wasn't merciful, and slightly less awkward, but still not right, to use unrelenting for the marathon runner.

P.S. I agree, however, that there should be a word which describes relentless intermittent persistence ... like a viral infection which succumbs to a new vaccine but mutates and comes roaring back years later, as virulent as ever.

re:I agree, however, that there should be a word which describes relentless intermittent persistence ... like a viral infection which succumbs to a new vaccine but mutates and comes roaring back years later, as virulent as ever.

the shortest way i know to express that is 'red queen theory'--from the red queen's comments in Alice in wonderland--'you have to run as fast as you can just to stay in place, and even faster if you want to get ahead'

its applied to all sorts of 'evolutionary' programs.. the idea that you have to keep outrunning (evolving as fast as you can) 'adversaries' just to keep alive..

re: there should be a word which describes relentless intermittent persistence ... like a viral infection which succumbs to a new vaccine but mutates and comes roaring back years later, as virulent as ever.

How about "chronic" or "recidivistic"?

chron·ic [adj.] American Heritage Dictionary:

Of long duration; continuing: chronic money problems.

Lasting for a long period of time or marked by frequent recurrence, as certain diseases: chronic colitis.

re·cid·i·vate [intr.v.] American Heritage Dictionary:

To return to a previous pattern of behavior, especially to return to criminal habits.

BTW there is a latin phrase which captures this sense of relentless returning: animus revertendi

It describes an animal, drawn from the wild, which "returns" relentlessly to the place where a human has provided a home [thru care or feeding].

In all other respects, the animal is the same as its brethern in the wild. It is distinguished only by this "animus" of returning, which allows the human to which it returns to claim ownership.

In the first few (or so) minutes of the movie "Bugsy" http://www.culturalianet.com/art/ver.php?art=2032 he verbaly announces his proposed deal to cut himself in on another gangster's territory. The other gangster says he's "disinterested". Bugsy's reply is (paraphrasing) "'Disinterested' means ignoring or not caring whereas 'uninterested' means an active refusal".

Anyone else know of this distinction, or does this evoke feelings of untinction?

Anyone else know of this distinction, or does this evoke feelings of unticntion?

Interesting study you have suggested, Musick.

The American Heritage Dictionary definition of "uninterested" concludes with this reference to a "Usage Note" under the definition of "disinterested":

Usage Note: In traditional usage, disinterested can only mean “having no stake in an outcome,” as in Since the judge stands to profit from the sale of the company, she cannot be considered a disinterested party in the dispute. But despite critical disapproval, disinterested has come to be widely used by many educated writers to mean “uninterested” or “having lost interest,” as in 'Since she discovered skiing, she is disinterested in her schoolwork.' Oddly enough, “not interested” is the oldest sense of the word, going back to the 17th century. This sense became outmoded in the 18th century but underwent a revival in the first quarter of the early 20th. Despite its resuscitation, this usage is widely considered an error. In a 1988 survey, 89 percent of the Usage Panel rejected the sentence His unwillingness to give five minutes of his time proves that he is disinterested in finding a solution to the problem. This is not a significantly different proportion from the 93 percent who disapproved of the same usage in 1980.

AnnaS, I am wondering...If we consider the usage of these adjectives as regards people, personalities or behaviour, do you think, we subconsciously use them with positive/negative connotations? Relentless for e.g., is used positively, as in, 'relentless determination' or 'relentless effort', 'relentless courage' whereas, an unrelenting stance for e.g., connotes a more negative rigid/unbending attitude.

Maahey, I think you're right. I was relentless :-) in searching out different sources of definitions of this word, and a couple used the word grim in connection with it. As part of the def., I mean, not just in an ex. sentence. And I disagreed with that.

Thank you all for y'all's input. I'm still turning all these takes over in my mind.

This came to me in an odd way, I guess: we had three snowstorms in the previous two weeks, and I thought, "the snow is relentless." Then I thought, "the snow is unrelenting." I stuck with the latter even though (or maybe, because) it seems I'm anthropormorphizing the snow -- like it's doing what it's doing just to give *me a hard time!

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